In The Kiln Now...

My friend P has been doing some neat things with leaves at the studio. She's made some neat coasters that I really liked, but I've been so busy at the wheel that handbuilding just wasn't going to happen. Then a few weeks ago, another coworker let us borrow his kids for an afternoon in the studio. Neither of us were crazy enough to let them loose on the wheel, so we had handbuilding day in the studio. This was my chance!

We have a large new slab roller at the studio, which is quite cool. We rolled out sheets of clay, handed over a bunch of cookie cutters and let the kids come up with whatever they wanted. While they played, I did too. I used a round cookie cutter, and then pressed a variety of leaves into the clay. The leaves burned off in the bisque fire, leaving an impression. Fuzzy leaves are the best. Then I painted them with rust oxide and then rinsed it back off. It stayed in the cracks and crevices, highlighting the leaves. Anywho, these are the car coasters I made.




These are all in the kiln now. The first three should have gone into the kiln before Christmas, but I got distracted and forgot them. The colored ribbons and the tree are now covered in clear glaze. The lily will be blue and will hopefully look kind of watercolor-ish. The red one was also covered in clear glaze. I should pick them up on Friday, along with the several other things now glazed.